Not long after he leaked the official press renders for the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+, Evan Blass let us in on the next Samsung phablet’s likely specification list. The device code-named Samsung Noble, model SM-N920 will supposedly feature a 5.66-inch QHD display, 4GB RAM and an octa-core Exynos 7420 processor made up of two quad-core chips (2.1GHz plus 1.5GHz). Alongside those, it’s predicted Samsung will pack in a 16MP rear camera, a 5MP front camera and run it on Android 5.1.1.

Perhaps the least surprising specification, but most disappointing, is the purported lack of expandable memory. Like the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge launched earlier this year, Samsung is going to go with internal storage only and not offer Micro SD card support.

Samsung is expected to announced the Galaxy Note 5 and its curved sibling at a press event on August 13. Let’s hope we have at least a few surprises from the Korean tech giant when the next Unpacked event kicks off. Right now, we seem to have a pretty clear picture of the next devices coming our way.

Right at the beginning of July, Turing Robotics announced a brand new phone which promised to be ultra-durable and ridiculously secure. Now, the phone is available to reserve online. There are three colors to choose from: Beowulf, Pharaoh and Cardinal. Those will be available in three storage options, the usual 16GB, 64GB and 128GB storage models will cost $610, $740 and $870 respectively.

Turing Phone is notable for a couple of reasons. It’s constructed from a material named LiquidMorphium, this is essentially a liquid metal material which is lighter than Titanium and stronger than steel. Other specs include a full HD, 1920×1080 resolution 5.5-inch display, a quad-core 2.5GHz processor and 3GB RAM. Its main camera is 13MP with HDR and a dual flash, while the front snapper boasts 8MP. There’s a 3,000mAh battery, a proprietary Magstream port and a fingerprint sensor on the side. It’s coated in Gorilla Glass, uses a Micro-SIM and runs Android 5.1 Lollipop.

Barely a week goes by when we don’t get another piece of the puzzle to add to the ever-clearer image of what Samsung’s going to announce in two weeks time. We’ve seen leaked schematics, unofficial 3D renders and photos as well as the usual rumors on release date and specifications. Now, what looks like an official press render has leaked out courtesy of Evan Blass on Twitter.

Samsung has officially announced it will be holding a press event on August 13, and will almost certainly use that platform to get a jump on IFA and Apple by announcing its next flagship phablets. While the Galaxy Note 5 is a clear descendant of the Note series, albeit with Galaxy design influences, the Galaxy S6 Edge plus is just a larger version of the Galaxy S6 Edge.

Although these renders don’t give us much more than we’ve seen previously, they do help reaffirm the rumors we’ve heard. One thing that’s interesting is the date displayed on the lock screen. Under the clock you can clearly see Fri, 21 August. To me this seems a sly confirmation of the release date rumors we’ve already heard.

You can be sure we’ll be bringing you full coverage of Samsung’s event when it kicks off on August 13, so be sure to stay tuned. It’ll be interesting to see what Sammy brings to the table. Hopefully more than just a physical redesign.

]]>http://9to5google.com/2015/08/01/galaxy-note-5-official-press-render/feed/1galaxynote5rendercjbuntygalaxynote5renderhttp://9to5google.com/2015/08/01/galaxy-note-5-official-press-render/Hangouts now lets you customize who can contact you directlyhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/9to5Google/~3/bZgXQuu2qkM/
http://9to5google.com/2015/07/31/hangouts-opens-up-messaging-options-lets-you-customize-who-can-contact-you-directly/#commentsFri, 31 Jul 2015 21:17:29 +0000http://9to5google.com/?p=114686]]>Hangouts, since the beginning, has separated incoming messages into two categories. Either the app detects that you probably know the person that’s contacting you (by way of you circling them, them having your email address, or otherwise) and lets them send you a message directly, or it puts incoming messages into an “Invitation” that you have to accept. How this works has never been customizable, but now Google is letting you customize these invitations to make them more or less strict.

In the new options, you can choose to go with Google’s recommended system, or you can opt to customize three different categories of incoming messages yourself. If you’d like, you can require that only invitations can be sent — regardless of if the sender has your email/phone number or not. Or, if you’re more of a free spirit, you can conversely use this opportunity to open up your inbox to any and all messages and allow everyone to contact you directly. Personally, I like the way Google has things set up. But I also like options. Options are good.

These settings will be available across the Hangouts apps, and of course, those who are using the Hangouts app on the desk through Google+ or otherwise will be able to take advantage of them as well.

Following a tweet yesterday from Sony Xperia teasing a “new way to capture split-second photos” coming on August 3rd, we have some new images of a purported Android-powered Xperia C5 Ultra and M5 to look at, courtesy of Mail.ru. The original post by Mail.ru was located in the /reviews/ subsection of their site and timestamped for August 3rd, and was taken down shortly after we began reviewing it. It’s possible the posting was under embargo until Sony Xperia’s official announcement.

Since we did manage to see the post before it was pulled, though, we get to look at a couple purported up close images of the devices, including the Xperia C5 Ultra and the Xperia M5. Keep reading for our best attempt at a plain English translation — thanks to the rough Google translate version — of what the article says about the phones…

The (purportedly 6-inch) C5 Ultra would be a successor to the 5.5-inch Xperia C4, known for being pro-selfies with both a front-facing 28mm wide-angle camera — featuring a Sony Exmor R mobile sensor — and a front-facing flash. The big difference between the C4 and the C5 Ultra seems to be in its slim bezel and upgraded front-facing shooter. The C5 Ultra, if this post is to be believed, has an ultra-thin 0.8mm thick bezel (hence the “ultra” appended at the end) versus 2.2mm with the C4, and sports a 13MP wide-angle front-facing camera (versus 5MP wide-angle on the C4). The lack of bezel reserves most of the front panel for the screen.

Other reported specifications for the C5 Ultra include an 8-core MediaTek processor with a clock-speed of 1.7 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 16 GB of onboard storage, dual-sim card support, and microSD card support up to 128 GB. The battery capacity is 2930 mAh, up from 2600 mAh in the C4, and is slated to last up to 2 days on a single charge using Sony’s STAMINA power management mode. The front is covered in glass, of course, while the sides are aluminum and the back is glossy plastic.

Second up in Mail.ru’s post is the Xperia M5, which looks almost identical to the Z3+, known as the Xperia Z4 in Japan and the Z4v in the United States (confusing, I know). The M5 sports a 5-inch display (like the M4 Aqua) versus 5.5-inches on the Z3+, and the frame is 7.6mm thick to the Z3+’s 6.9 millimeters. The display is the same resolution as the Z3+ and higher than that of the M4 Aqua’s, though, coming in at 1920 x 1080 pixels versus the M4 Aqua’s 720 x 1080 pixels, and the rear surface is glass like the Z3+ whereas the M4 Aqua’s rear is plastic.

Where the M5 may lack, however, it shines in upgraded camera modules that are probably what Sony Xperia was referencing to in its tweet yesterday. Cameras are, after all, where Sony believes it can differentiate its phones from the rest. Whereas the Z3+ sports a 20.7 MP rear-facing shooter and F 2.0 aperture, the M5’s rear shooter has a 21.5-megapixel sensor and very fast F 2.2 aperture, meaning pictures can be taken in just two tenths of a second. The M5 can also apparently shoot in up to 5x zoom without any perceptual loss in quality. Like the C5 Ultra, it’s front-facing shooter has been upgraded to 13MP from 5MP, and Mail.ru says it sports autofocus in the M5 (no clarification as to whether or not this is also the case in the C5 Ultra), which is unusual for front-facing modules.

The more standard specs of the M5 as reported by Mail.ru include an 8-core MediaTek Helio X10 processor clocked at 2 GHz, 3 GB of RAM, 16 GB of internal storage, and microSD card expandability up to 128 GB. It’s battery capacity is 2600 mAh.

Mail.ru expects the Xperia M5 to be priced at approximately $400 USD and the C5 Ultra to be priced around $350 USD, although exchange rates and currency fluctuations can have an impact on that. Fortunately with the aforementioned Sony Xperia event happening this coming Monday, we don’t have to wait very long to see how much of this is accurate.

Well, this is sad: despite a successful Indiegogo campaign which saw the company pass its funding goal in mere hours, Yota Devices just announced that the “two fronts” YotaPhone 2 with its secondary always-on ePaper display won’t be coming to North American shores. The Verge first reported on this news.

“It’s with a very heavy heart that I have to share the news that we are cancelling our launch of YotaPhone 2 in North America,” the company said in an email to backers. “This has been a difficult decision for us as a company, and we’d like to offer our sincerest apologies to the many people who have supported us.”

Why was the launch cancelled, you ask? The company says it was due to “unforeseen delays including both production and delivery of the North American variant of YotaPhone 2 from our manufacturer.” Yota Devices says they were from the outset of the Indiegogo campaign, “confident our supplier would be able to follow through with their commitment” to product the device quickly enough to not create a conflict with the company’s 2016 product roadmap. That clearly didn’t happen though, and last-ditch efforts last week to find a solution to the problems causing these major delays proved fruitless.

This doesn’t mean backers are totally out of luck and their hard-earned money, though. Yota Devices is giving backers two options as to how to move forward: either take an international YotaPhone 2 (in the color black, only) that will only work on GSM carriers (so, AT&T and T-Mobile) and only on 3G/HSPA+ bands, or take a full refund that will be sent directly from the company. For those who want the advantages of the always-on rear eInk display with its noted five days of life on a single charge – reading books, quick access to frequented information, etc – the compromise of using HSPA+ might be worth it (it’s not that slow).

Yota Devices ends its email by saying that the company is bringing on a new manufacturing partner that will be able to support bringing the next YotaPhone to multiple regions, including North America. The newest YotaPhone, coming in 2016, will include “the latest specs and technologies, but also at a lower cost, to allow us to offer better value to our customers.”

If you bought an NVIDIA SIELD tablet at any point between now and a year ago, you might want to take note: NVIDIA is voluntarily recalling all of these devices due to a problem with the battery which can cause it to overheat and potentially catch fire…

Yeah, it sounds like a doomsday scenario, but seeing as these things have been out in the wild for a while now without any huge controversy being stirred up, they’re probably pretty safe. That said, NVIDIA suggests you stop using the tablet and trade it in for a replacement:

NVIDIA is recalling its SHIELD tablets sold between July 2014 and July 2015. NVIDIA has determined that the battery in these tablets can overheat and pose a fire hazard.

NVIDIA is also asking consumers to stop using the recalled tablet, except as needed to participate in the recall and back up data. Consumers will receive a replacement tablet after registering to participate in the recall.

The recall does not affect any other NVIDIA products.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the are somewhere in the realm of 88,000 affected devices. To find out for sure if your unit is affected, you can head to the Settings app and go to About tablet -> Status -> Battery. Apparently this should show a code either Y01 or B01, and those that have Y01 are part of this recall.

Google teased some kind of #paywithaphoto Google Photos promotion last week, and now it looks like the food trucks are rolling out. The first locale luckily able to participate is New York City, and you can see the full schedule, running until August 2nd, below.

The Mountain View company really wants you to check out the Google Photos searching features, and they’re willing to give you free food if you do. Basically, you’ll be given a challenge to find a photo based on a keyword search, and if you can do it fast enough, you get a free waffle.

Admittedly, using the #paywithaphoto hashtag was and is a bit misleading for most. I assumed with the original tease that Google was looking to introduce some kind of new payments product that somehow incorporated photos. As Google said, that’s obviously not the case.

If you’re not in New York City, Google has said that Portland, Los Angeles and Austin are up next.

According to a post by an Android Developer Advocate on Google+, the Mountain View company has had to delay Android M Developer Preview 3 just a bit to make sure it’s closer to being a “near final’ build. Google never promised a release date, so most probably won’t be too disappointed, but the company says it just needs a “little more time.”

A quick update on M Developer Preview 3.
We want this to be a near final release to test your apps on, but we need a little more time to get it out to you.
Please be patient and refrain from posting speculations about the release date. We will announce the Preview 3 availability in this community and on +Android Developers as soon as it’s ready.

We’ll of course let you know as soon as the new Developer Preview is out, and we’ll quickly be digging through it to find the latest additions and fixes. The first two previews went without any kind of Google Now on Tap support, so that’s likely part of what the company is scrambling to put together right now.

]]>http://9to5google.com/2015/07/31/psa-android-m-developer-preview-3-has-been-delayed-a-bit/feed/0screenshot_20150709-205436steqheuscreenshot_20150709-205436http://9to5google.com/2015/07/31/psa-android-m-developer-preview-3-has-been-delayed-a-bit/Google appeals French ‘Right to be forgotten’ order, says would be ‘race to the bottom’http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/9to5Google/~3/ETx9MvfOESI/
http://9to5google.com/2015/07/31/google-france-right-to-be-forgotten/#commentsFri, 31 Jul 2015 11:03:18 +0000http://9to5google.com/?p=114602]]>

Google has appealed against France’s order that it must implement ‘Right to be forgotten‘ requests globally, rather than just within Europe, reports the WSJ. The company argued in a blog post that to comply would mean the Internet would only be as free as the least free country in the world …

A French court ruled that when Google agreed to remove a link from google.fr, it must do so from all other Google sites, including google.com – or face sanctions. Google argues that the effect of complying with the ruling would be “chilling.”

There are innumerable examples around the world where content that is declared illegal under the laws of one country, would be deemed legal in others: Thailand criminalizes some speech that is critical of its King, Turkey criminalizes some speech that is critical of Ataturk, and Russia outlaws some speech that is deemed to be “gay propaganda.”

If the CNIL’s proposed approach were to be embraced as the standard for Internet regulation, we would find ourselves in a race to the bottom. In the end, the Internet would only be as free as the world’s least free place.

Google said that it was wrong for one country to determine what someone in a different country could access.

Google said that it rejected the ruling “as a matter of principle” and had therefore asked the French data protection regulator CNIL to rescind the order. CNIL responded, saying that it will take up to two months to consider Google’s request before either withdrawing the order or fining the company for non-compliance.

Back in May, Google gave some examples of the easy and difficult decisions it is required to make when evaluating right to be forgotten requests.

Samsung Pay, the manufacturer’s contactless mobile payment service, is rolling out in Europe soon thanks to a partnership with MasterCard in the EU. Once the service launches officially, card issuers will be able to enroll in MasterCard’s Digital Enablement Services (MDES), and apply the capability to all kinds of MasterCard credit, debit, prepaid credit and small business cards.

What makes Samsung Pay a different to most mobile payment services is that it works with both Magstrip and NFC POS terminals, meaning you will be able to pay virtually anywhere that has a card machine.

“Samsung Pay is pleased to join forces with MasterCard to offer a simple and safe mobile payment experience enabled for wider merchant acceptance to MasterCard cardholders and issuers in Europe,” said Injong Rhee, EVP of Samsung Electronics, Global Head of Samsung Pay. “Both organizations are committed to ground breaking fin-tech innovations that will deliver on the promise of a true mobile wallet.”

The news was announced in an official blog post this morning. Although many will see it as a direct competitor to Apple Pay — which it is in some ways — Samsung should perhaps be more concerned about the impending arrival of Android Pay. After all, Apple Pay is only available on iOS devices, while Android Pay will be available on any Android hardware with the right features, and Samsung will presumably support it on its own smartphones. The potential is there for Android Pay to cannibalize Samsung’s own payment service, on its own phones. It’ll be interesting to see how the Korean tech giant plays this one.

No firm release date has been given for Samsung Pay in Europe, but the partnership is now in place to eventually roll out the service in the EU.

You might notice that 9to5Google has changed. Indeed so has thewholenetwork. Long before the page size/speed and advertising controversies, we knew that we needed to rethink how we presented ourselves.

While we were one of the lightest and fastest sites in our field, our feature creep and advertisers were adding complexity and page load times, which is especially crucial on mobile – an ever expanding percentage of our growing audience.

We decided to start over…

You are VIPs (so we are VIP)

One thing we’ve loved for years is our hosting provider: We’re hosted on WordPress’s own top-tier VIP. That means we have tons of global redundancy and speed, the latest WordPress code free from hacks and exploits, and the smartest backend help around. VIP is the same platform and servers that Bloomberg, NFL, NBC, Time, NYPost, CNN, Quartz, Fortune and many of the world’s top websites use.

VIP obviously costs a lot of money, which is why we’re the only Apple site that puts this much of our resources into our hosting. What this buys us (and you) is:

The fastest page loads around the world

Outages/slowdowns almost unheard of even during huge events

Unparalleled safety and security

VIP is worth it. You are worth it.

We’re also proud to work with 10up, who executed strategy, design, development, and ad integration for our latest iteration. We’ve been one of 10up’s earliest clients, since Jake Goldman started the agency on his own in 2011. 10up has grown to over a hundred employees, and it services the same top-tier class of clients. The fact that we’ve grown alongside 10up says a lot about both of our organizations.

What’s new? Everything (else).

We started with a clean slate and questioned everything on the site. If it wasn’t integral to the experience, it’s gone. If it’s important, we cleaned it up and made it better.

We’ve killed the tag lines on our logos. We’ve killed the right sidebar because it prevented us from doing full width imagery, media, and writing, and it wasn’t great for mobile. We’ve cleaned up search, social, tags, and category placement. Our new fonts are fresh and more readable across a wide variety of devices. The front page scrolls ‘infinitely’ with date and stock price line dividers while article pages load up relevant stories to continue to read. “Asides”, our coverage of niche stories with a one line title, now have images and will open up in-line.

The focus is on beauty and usability across all platforms. From Phone to bigscreen and everything in between. We love it and hope you do too.

Ads (ugh)

Ads are a particularly painful part of my life, and I could and probably will write a book on the what/whys/hows etc. The bottom line is that banner ads currently are a very necessary evil, but we use DoubleClick for Publishers and Ad Exchange, which are industry standards for speed, reliability, and quality.

The good news is that with the sidebar gone, there are fewer ads, and ads only appear between every two posts on the front page. Ads will only load up as you scroll. That makes the page itself quicker and uses much less data than loading up the front page full of ads right away.

I believe we’re in the early stages of a huge transition away from fossil fuel. Coal and natural gas are being replaced by wind and solar power. We’re at a tipping point with electric cars where they are starting to cost less to use than gas (even at reduced prices). That’s before climate change action by people and governments kick in.

We’ll be documenting it all.

Expect full coverage every day of:

Electric cars from Tesla and other automakers

Autonomous driving

Electric boats, planes, trains, bikes, skateboards, and any other means of transportation out there

Wind and hydro power

Hobby to large scale solar and sustainable living

Enjoy! (and what’s next)

As always, we very much appreciate your comments and feedback. We know there will be some “cheese moved” and missing, damaged, or broken stuff. We’re currently hard at work making everything perfect. Please, play around and help us find issues.

While this is a huge step for us, we’re already working on some new video and podcast ideas, building out the community sites for general use, improvign comments and even finishing a few apps by our own Benjamin Mayo. We’re now over 20 international writers network-wide as well as a whole back office full of folks dedicated to bringing you the latest news, information, and entertainment about the technology you love.

OnePlus earlier this week finally took the wraps off the much anticipated OnePlus 2, the successor to the company’s first Android smartphone, the OnePlus One. And while the young Chinese company says it significantly increased manufacturing capacity for the 2 over the One, it still seems to believe that demand will initially outstrip supply. As such, once the OnePlus 2 launches on August 11th you’re likely to do some more waiting before you get it.

Yes, as with the launch of the OnePlus One, buying the 2 will require possessing an elusive invite (at least for the first few days or weeks after it goes on sale). Owners of the OnePlus One will also get priority dibs on these invites and get their own invites to distribute to friends and family, so first time owners are looking at an even longer wait unless they know someone who owns one (or are willing to hit up the secondary markets). How long is the wait list for invites, though? One million deep as of the time of writing, despite the lack of Quick Charge and NFC. Although, one million people reserving an invite does not mean one million people will buy the phone.

At this point, we don’t really suspect that entering for an invite through this form will help eager buyers very much – nearly as many people have joined the waitlist for the 2 as had purchased the OnePlus One altogether, at least if OnePlus’s vague numbers are to be believed. It can’t hurt, though, so throw your name in if you want one.

Chrome v44 hit the beta channel last month and today the update is rolling out to the stable app via the Play Store. While Google isn’t very specific in what has changed, there are usually several hidden features in Chrome version bumps.

The changelog for the update on the Play Store simply reads “bug fixes and speedy performance improvements,” which leaves much to our imagination. The beta version of Chrome 44 included an experimental New Tab page, as well as a new Reader Mode. Neither of those features appear to have made it to the stable version of Chrome 44, however.

The Chrome team is excited to announce the launch of Chrome 44 for Android. Chrome 44.0.2403.128 will be available in Google Play over the next few days. This release fixes a boatload of bugs and performance issues, we hope you love it. A partial list of changes in this build are available in the Git log. If you find a new issue, please let us know by filing a bug. More information about Chrome for Android is available on the Chrome site.

You can get the update now on the Play Store now, or via APKMirror if you’re still waiting on the update to hit your device.

As I first told you across several exclusive reports, Google’s next move for Google Glass is into the enterprise (via The Wall Street Journal). As I said,the device is expected to have improved internal hardware including an Intel Atom processor, a new physique that makes it more suitable for less-than-ideal working environments, and will be coming exclusively to the workplace through the Glass for Work partner groups.

All of the details we previously reported about the device’s internals have been corroborated, including its Intel processor (which we exclusively reported is an Atom), improved battery life, and improved “wireless connectivity” (which we told you includes the addition of a 5 GHz WiFi band for video streaming applications). We also exclusively mentioned better heat management which is a result of the new chip, and its improved performance. We also previously reported on the Google-made external battery pack, which attaches to the device magnetically.

As for the external appearance of the device, today’s report also reiterates much of what we reported. We told you that the device has a more robust build, a larger prism, and has a hinge that allows it to fold and is built to withstand bumps and bruises in the workplace. We also reported that the device is waterproof and closed-off, as to protect it from debris and other substances that may damage the hardware.

Finally, we exclusively reported that the device will not be marketed at all toward consumers. As we reported, the device is planned to be only distributed through the Glass for Work startups and that “hundreds” of them are already out in the wild. Glass for Work partners will likely be loading their proprietary software onto device before they’re even distributed to the workplace. According to the WSJ, Google is hoping to have these devices in the hands of companies by “the fall,” but sources have told us that “this is happening, and it’s right around the corner.”

At its event just a couple of days ago, Motorola took the wraps of three new phones: Moto X Style (or Pure Edition), Moto X Play and the all-new Moto G. But if recent rumors are worth their weight, we could see a new generation of the DROID family make an appearance too. Recent leaks show a design similar to the Nexus 6/Moto X, but with little accents and features that show it to be at least a little unique.

Like the Motorola-made Nexus 6, the rear seems to be made of two parts. First, there’s the metal chassis which will contain all the important internal components. Second is the thick skin with an adhesive underside. Those of you who saw Dom’s video on fixing his Nexus 6 will have seen this make-up already.

Sadly, the main chassis of the device in these leaks doesn’t contain many internal components. All we can make out is the copper coil which makes-up the wireless charging receiver (most likely Qi).

On the underside of the skin you’ll see a bunch of light and dark gray areas. The lighter portions are presumably where there is no adhesive. Given the very specific nature of those glue-less sections, we can only assume that they cover some of the more sensitive components (or at least, weaker fixing points for components). On the rear of the skin there appears to be a ruggedized finish, in keeping with previous generations of Droid, although not exactly the same. It’s not carbon fiber, or “ballistic nylon” of the DROID Turbo, but it is very similar to the finish of the newly announced Moto X Play.

But what you will notice is that this isn’t just a Moto X Play. The metal frame design is different, as is the pattern of the outer layer. It’s a much thinner metal frame on the right and left edges.

With the DROID range being traditionally exclusive to Verizon, this perhaps gives an indication as to why we didn’t see a Stateside launch announced for the Moto X Play. The design similarities between the Play and this purported new Moto Droid are too close to make it worthwhile having both phones available in the same market. Verizon perhaps demanded it this way, being the carrier that it is.

As with the other new phones, this Moto has the same camera housing design on the back along with a similarly shaped and designed metal frame. It’s definitely not as distinctive as previous DROIDs, but if it hosts a battery as big as the last one, we could be in for a super smartphone.

Update: Google posted to Google+ shortly after we published this to announce that Play Movies is actually now available in three new countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Our report below doesn’t mention Singapore as a new supported country.

Google Play and Play Movies are both getting some international love today. Play is Google’s store for apps and games, while Play Movies contains movie and television content.

First up, developers in India can now price their Play Store apps lower than ever before: Rs. 10, which comes out to approximately 10 cents in US dollars. This is major because while India is a rapidly developing country with many starting to rise to the middle class, its per capita GDP is still much smaller than that of the United States. Also, and this is just my opinion, 10 cents is much more of a impulse buy area. This new minimum pricing only applies to India. Google recently began selling Play Store gift cards in the country as well – India is very reliant on cash over plastic (credit, debit cards), so by making gift cards available that can be purchased with cash, the company has ostensibly increased its potential customer base in that country.

Also new today, or at least very recently, is the launching of Play Movies in Indonesia and Malaysia. Several people have reached out to Android Police as of late with tips and screenshots of its availability in the two countries, so it’s pretty assured to be real. Play Movies is, as mentioned, Google’s movie and television entertainment store for Android devices. The company also rents out video content through YouTube, although the availability of both of these varies widely by region and country.

We saw leaked screenshots of both the upcoming Hangouts Android app and its Android Wear counterpart, and now the app has leaked again (via Phandroid). Everything looks basically the same, and there’s not much new to see in this leak. And while Phandroid seems to claim that their version of the app is somehow special, the currently-available build of Hangouts now lets users send messages from Android Wear…

Hangouts 4.0 has been long-drooled-over for months, as the current build of Hangouts is just… not that great. iOS has almost always had a better Hangouts app than Android, and Google’s stock Messenger app for sending SMS messages has been consistently updated since its release to be better and better. Hangouts, on the other hand, has seemingly been ignored (even though it’s just as if not more often used by most).

But that’s about to change. The upcoming release of Hangouts looks almost identical to iOS app, but as was previous noted, it’s pretty buggy. The most recent leak is also buggy still, which doesn’t bode well for those of us hoping that the app will be released soon. Almost every #UpdateWednesday has seen the Android community begging for Hangouts, and it has still yet to land. Looks like the team is still squashing bugs.

Perhaps the most interesting thing we’ve learned today, though, is that Phandroid‘s app is not the reason that Hangouts is working on Android Wear. Google recently added WhatsApp, Viber, and other apps to be compatible with “OK, Google,” and it looks like Hangouts went unmentioned. You don’t need a fancy leaked build of Hangouts 4.0 to use this feature — apparently, it’s working right now assuming you have the latest version of the app available in the Play Store.

It’s only a matter of time before Hangouts finally gets updated, but until then, feel free to play around with the almost-kind-of Android Wear support.

Up until today, testing out an Android app that’s in beta has required going through a non-intuitive process that includes joining a group on Google+ (or Google Groups) and then clicking a special Play Store link which typically doesn’t even work until a few minutes after you join the associated group (which can lead people to thinking that something isn’t working). It’s weird and inelegant, so Google has just announced two new (easier) ways through which developers can grant users access to their betas.

The first one is called open beta, and enables developers to create a link through which interested users can join a beta with just one click. Google says open beta will make it easy to scale up to hundreds of testers quickly, but for developers who might be overwhelmed by that thought, open beta includes a way to limit the maximum number of users who can join.

The second new way through which developers can add users to their betas is by email address. They can either upload a .csv spreadsheet full of user email addresses or add them each individually. Once an email address is added, all the user has to do to accept and join the beta is click an opt-in link.

Google says that the Google+ community/Google Group option will still work as always, and that developers already using one of these methods will also be able to easily move their app to an open beta while preserving existing beta testers.

Anyone who is familiar with Apple’s iOS will notice the similarities of these new Android beta testing options to TestFlight, the Cupertino-based company’s mobile app testing service. With TestFlight, users are invited to betas via email and can download them to their iOS device with one-click, as well as manage all the betas they’re a part of through the TestFlight iOS app. TestFlight originally worked across both iOS and Android, but with Apple’s 2014 acquisition of the company, Android support was (unsurprisingly) terminated. Since then Android has lagged behind in terms of ease of getting beta builds out to users. These new options should clear that right up.

Google’s Android for Work program already has more than 10,000 businesses that are “testing, deploying or using Android for Work” in some capacity, and now the company has announced 40 new partners. Notably, several Android handset OEMs are joining the group, as well as 8 cellular carriers.

The Android for Work program took off with the help of our partners across the Android ecosystem, and today we’re expanding the family to 40 companies to continue the momentum, including new device manufacturers, application makers and management providers.

AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, HTC, Sony, LG, Huawei, Lenovo, Motorola, Dell, and HP are among some of the notable additions. Google makes note of Blackphone as one of the newly-partnered companies that brings the enhanced privacy and security features on top of the Android platform.

I’ve long been a fan of what Motorola has been doing with their smartphones and peripherals, and this week’sannouncements are no exception. Both of the headphones Moto released, the Moto Surround and especially the Moto Pulse are top notch. I’ve been using the Pulse exclusively since the event and couldn’t be happier. They are so light that you forget they’re even on your head, while at the same time they have a mic for calls, a battery meter on your phone ,and they swivel so they pack flat. Oh and the sound is excellent – comparable to a $200 set of heavy cans from other mid/high tier vendors. At $60, the Pulse headphones are a no-brainer if you need light over-ears for a reasonable price.

But the Moto G 3rd edition is what we’re here to talk about…

I’ll get the bad news out of the way right off the bat. I switched from the Nexus 6 to the LG G4 (sans overlay) a few months ago as my daily Android driver. It is light because it’s plastic and a bit on the flimsy side.

All of the Motos released yesterday have big batteries and Motorola’s heavy-duty enclosures. The Moto G is no exception. It is “significant” at 155 grams, though definitely not a dealbreaker for me. Some folks comparing it with lighter plastic phones might see it as a turn off.

However, to get its price to an incredible $179.99, Moto dropped a few features, most notably NFC. That means no Google Wallet payments and quick Bluetooth pairing/file sharing. The inability to make payments IS a dealbreaker for me. And that’s a real shame because everything else on this phone is fan-friggen-tastic.

The 5-inch screen is beautiful Gorilla Glass 3, and at almost 300ppi as close to “Retina” as I need without extra pixels for the GPU to push. Unless you are a big VR user, the screen is excellent for anything you need. The device, running Android 5.1.1, is also as responsive as you could expect from its Snapdragon 4-series processor. I don’t do high resolution/framerate games so I didn’t get to push this, but for every day tasks and even Angry Birds-type games, this is all you need. The lack of an overlay is a huge help. Vanilla Android all the way.

Moto put the 13 megapixel F2.0 camera with two-tone LED flash from the Nexus 6 in here. That’s where it belongs. It is a great shooter, but not flagship level like the Sony modules in the new Moto X line as well as Samsung, LG and Apple flagship phones.

I also like Moto’s camera software better than the Android camera. It feels quicker than the Nexus 6, and with the double wrist snap motion is almost instantly ready whenever you need it. Video is also excellent 1080P at 30FPS. Impressive for a budget phone. If you take a lot of video, throw in a 32 GB MicroSD card for a few bucks more.

Battery? All day 2470mAh and then some! I haven’t charged mine in 36 hours and it says I have another 11 hours left!

I know it sounds like I am gushing over what Moto does with their phone software, but it is exactly the right thing to do. Don’t touch the Android software that works. Add some smart innovations where you can help. The tap twice to invoke the flashlight is a genius move. The Moto Assist, Actions and Display are all helpful additions that don’t take away speed or functionality of the device. There is no bloatware here. We’ll deep dive into these features later.

And finally, making this (IPX 7 1 meter/30 mins) waterproof in addition to rugged solidifies this as the phone my kids will get. At $20 less than a base level iPod touch with a screen an inch bigger, way better cameras/flash/light, GPS, a phone that can be used in an emergency even without a SIM card – most kids will be better off with this device.

For folks who need a second phone, a burner phone, a development phone, a grandparents’ phone, a toilet/bathroom phone, a kiosk phone, a car-only phone of any kind or just don’t want to spend a lot of money (and don’t plan to make mobile payments), this is your phone. Get it for $179 or spend a little extra and get a 2GB RAM version with 16GB of storage (which I have for this review).

Sony has taken to Twitter to tease some kind of camera announcement for August 3rd. Specifically, the company says that it will introduce “a new way to capture split-second photos.” And that’s basically all we know.

It’s possible that this will mean the announcement of some kind of new handset, packed with hardware capable of taking photos like the one you see above. Most recently, the company brought the Xperia Z4v to the United States.

It’s also very much possible that the company is simply going to announce some kind of new software feature. This would admittedly be a lot less exciting, but it makes sense considering the toying the company has been doing with software as of late.

The rollout of Android Auto, Google’s smartphone-based infotainment system for the road, is in full swing as several automakers and developers are announcing specific cars and apps to support the feature. Audibooks.com is the latest to release an Android Auto-compatible app with the most recent update to their Audio Books app for Android.

Android Auto integration means Audio Books app users can listen to their favorite selections while driving. The benefit is that Android Auto makes controlling playback and selecting the right audio book an easier experience as its optimized for the built-in display in supported cars. Audiobooks.com says its the first audiobooks smartphone app to adopt Android Auto:

“Audiobooks.com is the first and only audiobooks application supporting the Android Auto platform. Driving will never be the same again.

Audiobooks.com’s philosophy is to provide easy and convenient ways for people to enjoy audiobooks, wherever and however they prefer to listen to them. Demand for car infotainment systems and in-car listening is skyrocketing, which led Audiobooks.com to make the in-vehicle experience a high priority in guiding product development.”